The Florida Gulf Coast University volleyball team defeated Northeastern University 3-1 Saturday to end the Eagles time at the Northeastern Tournament in Boston, Massachusetts. The Green & Blue leave the Bay State undefeated having won all three matches.
Skylar English was named MVP of the tournament and both
Barbara Koehler and
Oreva Evivie earned a spot on the All-Tournament team.
"Great weekend and really pleased with the way we wrapped things up in the final match. Both Shanelle and Raegan did an excellent job running the offense and the whole group executed defensively well," head coach
Matt Botsford said."Skylar was outstanding throughout both matches and especially within serve receive. I also really liked the spark that Ava and Destiny provided in the second match of the day."
The Eagles (5-1) came out firing in front of the Huskies home crowd in set one, gaining a 12-7 advantage with three kills each from
Shelby Kent and
Skylar English. Northeastern called a timeout but it did not help as the Eagles opened a 10-3 run to lead 22-10 and forced the Huskies to call for another break. From there, FGCU comfortably cruised to win the set 25-12.
Northeastern opened the second set with a 7-0 rally and continued to apply pressure, stretching its lead to 20-8. FGCU would not go away easily and had a 9-1 surge to close the gap to four, 21-17, but the Huskies responded with a 4-0 run and won the set, 25-17.
In the third set, the Huskies had a 7-5 lead before the Green & Blue unleashed a 10-0 rally to take the advantage, 15-7. The Eagles then outscored Northeastern 10-6 to take the set 25-13. The Eagles held the Huskies to a -0.125 attacking percentage in the set.
The Eagles meant business in the fourth set and jumped to a 14-6 advantage off four attacks each from Kent and English. The Eagles kept flying high and extended their lead to 22-11 with
Raegan Richardson scoring a pair of aces combined with two kills each from
Ella Chapman and English.
The Huskies tried fighting back with two consecutive points, but it would not be good enough as the Green & Blue fired off three more kills with the last two coming from English to close out the match 25-16.
English registered a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs while having four aces. Kent also had 14 kills and nine digs.
Barbara Koehler had 12 kills off 17 swings and
Oreva Evivie registered eight kills from 12 attacks.
Shanelle Puetz and Richardson both had a game-high 24 assists.
The Eagles dominated in a number of areas over the Huskies, going 12-3 in aces, 52-32 in assists and 8-5 in blocks.
The Green & Blue remain on the road and will next head to the Ole Miss Invitational on Sep. 13 in Oxford, Mississippi.
Northeastern Invitational All-Tournament Team :
MVP - Skylar English (FGCU)
Barbara Koehler (FGCU)
Oreva Evivie (FGCU)
Kauany Gutz (Dartmouth)
Piper Stevens (Dartmouth)
Nadia Koanui (Northeastern)
Jessie Seidel (Lindenwood)
